Thursday, October 4, 2012

Camera Incident in Puerto Rico: Not TSA

A story
has been in the news this week about a passenger who alleged that a TSA officer
confiscated his camera and deleted the footage. While TSA understands it’s hard
at times to distinguish our officers from law enforcement or other officials,
the person who took the camera from the passenger in Puerto Rico was not a TSA
employee. TSA did not tamper with the camera or erase any of its content. Additionally,
the individual that appears in the video
being circulated is not a TSA employee.

For your
review, our photo policy is located on our blog
as well as at TSA.gov.

Since you are acknowledging that the camera WAS taken from the passenger and are specifically asserting that it was NOT a TSA person, how exactly did you come to this conclusion? Any supporting documentation? Any statements as to who exactly took the camera?

-Perhaps you should realize that not every TSA employee wants to wear the badge and the uniform, did you ever think of that? TSA employees' have proposed to change the uniform look, but it takes time. Know your facts before pointing the finger.

For those who have posted about TSA uniforms, you really should get in touch with reality: First, TSA uniforms ARE distiguishable, especially if you can READ. Secondly, most all security officers, in any field, wear some type of professional uniform that conveys an added measure of security, even at local grocery store or movie theatres. TSA officers are there to provide security and help ensure the safety of passengers. Would you rather them wear slacks and a t-shirt, so that when you NEED to find one, you won't know who to go to? Also, they wear their names, so if there IS a problem, then you should be able to report that individual by name. You can also ask for a supervisor on the spot. C'mon folks, lets be reasonable.

http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/264925.html"A former TSA worker has pleaded guilty to stealing over $500 in cash from a man who complained about the TSA’s invasive pat down procedure, with the TSA agent admitting the theft was a punishment for the man’s lack of obedience."

"An 87-year-old widow, Rosemary Fecteau, was selected for a pat-down when the full body scanner detected her colostomy bag. The TSA screener, who claimed he had never heard of of a colostomy bag, threatened Fecteau with a $10,000 fine and forced her to empty the contents onto a table in front of hundreds of horrified passengers. He then berated her: “Why didn’t you tell me the bag was full of crap?”"

-Perhaps you should realize that not every TSA employee wants to wear the badge and the uniform, did you ever think of that? TSA employees' have proposed to change the uniform look, but it takes time. Know your facts before pointing the finger.

October 4, 2012 10:00 PM

.............................Know the facts before pointing finger.

OK, TSA does in fact dress TSA employees up in fake cop uniforms.

TSA does in fact dress its employees up with a fake cop badge.

Where are these facts wrong?

The problem is that TSA employees keep putting this uniform on instead of getting an honest job.

Anonymous said...RB said..."I don't see the source linked to calling that fake.

Please copy that text back here so we can see what you are reading."

The source of the report comes from TSA agent forces elderly woman to empty colostomy bag which is a “satirical website” . Your linked source has made a correction by lining out what you posted and quoted. It is fake RB. It’s made up. Not true. TSA news blog is not a good source for information.

October 10, 2012 1:32 PM......................

The account may not be true in this case but the problem remains, given TSA and its employees history and past performance it rings true.

RB;WOW! So glad you are up on your sources! You do realize that the source you quoted (TSAnews) took its source material from the "Dead Serious" newsite which is a complete fabrication? Just for example, these are the other headlines on the site;

RB, I'm afraid you just blew all your future crdibility out of the water. I guess in your zeal to bash the TSA you forgot something as simple as checking sources. That's what happens when you spend so much time on the internet (after all, you are on the TSA site every single day) and don't get out into the "real" world.

Alan Powell said..."For those who have posted about TSA uniforms, you really should get in touch with reality: First, TSA uniforms ARE distiguishable, especially if you can READ. "

The uniforms would, however, fail a "moron in a hurry" test.

"Secondly, most all security officers, in any field, wear some type of professional uniform that conveys an added measure of security, even at local grocery store or movie theatres."

Nice examples. Every "security" I've seen in either of these locations has been an off-duty cop, in an actual police uniform. So yeah, they're gonna dress like cops because they ARE cops.

" TSA officers are there to provide security and help ensure the safety of passengers."

Then they're doing worse than their detractors would suggest, as they do neither.

"Would you rather them wear slacks and a t-shirt, so that when you NEED to find one, you won't know who to go to?"

Why would you need to find one? Unless you're reporting an actual terrorist to them, as they seem to have trouble finding any.

"Also, they wear their names, so if there IS a problem, then you should be able to report that individual by name. You can also ask for a supervisor on the spot."

Many hide their badges, and as the TSO who posted about respectfully performing her duties of sexual assault against passengers who are not properly "humbled" pointed out, TSA supervisors often times simply side with their agent with no investigation whatsoever.

"C'mon folks, lets be reasonable."

Reasonable would be putting TSA leadership in jail. I suspect your definition of "reasonable" is different than mine ;)

Did the TSA do an investigation into who that individual was? Are there airport security staff members that are separate from TSA officers? This is probably very confusing for the general public and it would be great if there was some education for people on how to distinguish the two.

-Perhaps you should realize that not every TSA employee wants to wear the badge and the uniform, did you ever think of that? TSA employees' have proposed to change the uniform look, but it takes time. Know your facts before pointing the finger.

No one said that all the front-line employees wanted to wear fake cop uniforms. That does not change the fact that TSA leadership wants them on the front-line employees, presumable to give the illusion that TSAgents are, indeed, cops. Quit misrepresenting others' arguments in order to appear to win them.

Has the TSA investigated and found out who the culprit was? There should be clear guidelines and obvious differences between TSA staff and other staff for the benefit of all. Would be interesting to see who that was in the footage.

TSM said...RB;WOW! So glad you are up on your sources! You do realize that the source you quoted (TSAnews) took its source material from the "Dead Serious" newsite which is a complete fabrication? Just for example, these are the other headlines on the site;

RB, I'm afraid you just blew all your future crdibility out of the water. I guess in your zeal to bash the TSA you forgot something as simple as checking sources. That's what happens when you spend so much time on the internet (after all, you are on the TSA site every single day) and don't get out into the "real" world.

October 12, 2012 2:06 PM___________________________________

Well TSM I guess getting something wrong is not ok unless you work for TSA where "Wrong" is TSA SOP.

Then being a TSM yourself I'm sure your proud of your fellow TSM‘s, like the one up in Philadelphia, who has been in the news. Are you proud of that TSA guy TSM?

And let us not forget the criminals who infest TSA, how many have to be caught before TSA takes some positive action TSM?

Or how about the civil rights violations that you and your co-workers keep committing, like questioning a guy over checks and cash collected at a political event, or a lady with checks in her purse and TSA gets all excited, the Strip Searches of old ladies at JFK, a TSM who stood by while doing nothing while other TSA employees held a woman hostage over breast milk, and don't forget the TSA Mexicutioners. Yeah, you pointing fingers is a laugh.

While we are on the subject, just what does "Resistance" mean? Does it mean that you TSA employees feel peoples genitals? Where is that disclosure?

How many times do you and your TSA co-workers get to be wrong without some serious corrective action TSM?

You TSA employees are a fricking joke and some strong legal action against TSA employees needs to be taking place because a bunch of you belong in jail.

As far as how I utilize my time I don't think it is any concern of yours. Is it part of your duties to monitor my time and activities TSM?

Don't you violate enough people without stooping to that too?

When you can tell me that TSA has removed all the perverts, thugs, and thieves from TSA you get back to me, then we may have something to talk about.

Screen shot taken.

Free Speech is a Constitutional Right!

Blogger Bob would not post this item as originally written because I referenced a senior TSA employees past work. The material in no way violated the illegal posting standards of this taxpayer funded government blog and constitutes a civil rights violation against the author. Do not expect TSA to honor or abide by the United States Constitution, TSA is appparently above the law of the land.

If you are not aware of this TSA employees prior history I would suggest being very alert to anything going on at all TSA checkpoints in Philadelphia.

I like the new lay-out of TSA! It’s very fresh and well-structured compared to the previous platform. Improving the website just came right in time. Congratulations guys for the job well done and please continue posting awesome articles!

Why so hateful to TSA?! You must not personally know any TSA employees. The overwhelming majority of TSA employees I know do a great job of providing transportation SAFETY for the public. TSA does not look for terrorists. TSA reduces the threat of harm or possible threats of harm--including from disgruntled people, emotionally/psychologically distraught, etc. who may seek to use items to harm or threaten others.

Not hateful at all. They will get my respect when they deserve my respect, and not a moment before.

"You must not personally know any TSA employees."

Irrelevant.

"The overwhelming majority of TSA employees I know do a great job of providing transportation SAFETY for the public."

As asked several times before, where is the proof of this? Do they REALLY provide anything beyond what pre-9/11 security offered? Don't trust my answer of "No." Ask someone who actually practices security for a living, and is somewhat of an expert, like Bruce Schneier.

"TSA does not look for terrorists."

Then why the secret watch lists?

"TSA reduces the threat of harm or possible threats of harm--including from disgruntled people, emotionally/psychologically distraught, etc. who may seek to use items to harm or threaten others."

That is not their mission. Their mission is to protect aviation. Protecting individuals on an aircraft from other individuals is not what they are tasked with.

Also, please remember that security was not the failure on 9/11. Easy access to the cockpit, and training crew and passengers to comply with terrorist demands was. Both of these have changed. Combined with pre-9/11 levels of security, we could go back to allowing box cutters, which were allowed on 9/11 and was reportedly the weapon of choice that day, and another 9/11 would still never happen.